A COUNCILLOR says members of the public are concerned about the discovery of an ancient storm drain in a churchyard.

The drain in the Closed Churchyard, by Ledbury Parish Church, has been discovered following a clearance of brambles, and now calls are growing for something to be done, before it causes an accident.

Councillor Annette Crowe raised her concerns at last week’s full town council meeting, after she was approached about the five foot deep hole by worried churchgoers.

The Closed Churchyard, so called because it is closed to new burials, is the responsibility of Ledbury Town Council.

She said: “We are liable for any injury sustained. The hole is potentially quite dangerous and it needs to be cordoned off, immediately.”

Since then, the storm drain, close to the stone wall that separates the police station from the graveyard, has been cordoned off with tape, and a bollard marks the spot.

But town clerk Karen Mitchell said that councillors would now have to decide whether or not railings or a grille should be installed; although she pointed out that the drain is lined with the same stone as the graveyard walls, and had probably been there “for hundreds of years”, without causing any mishaps.

St Michael and All Angels Church is mediaeval, but built on an earlier, Saxon site.

Mrs Mitchell believes the storm drain could have been built to cope with the run off from the lake at Upperfields, in the distant past.

The matter was set to be discussed at last night’s Environment and Leisure Committee meeting in the Market House.